The Amur GPP has strategic importance for the Eastern Gas Program. The plant will be supplied via the Power of Siberia gas pipeline with multi-component gas from the Yakutia and Irkutsk gas production centers that are being set up by Gazprom. The GPP will extract valuable substances, primarily ethane and helium, from gas for the purposes of the petrochemical and other industries. The processed gas will be then exported to China.

Site preparation works for a more than 850-hectare area are already completed, with a utility system in place. By laying the foundation for the plant, Gazprom launched the main phase of the construction project, namely the establishment of the key gas processing facilities.

The Amur GPP will have six production lines, each of which will be an independent gas processing facility with the annual capacity of 7 billion cubic meters. Two process lines will come online at the first start-up complex, while the other four will be consecutively put in operation later. The GPP will thus reach its design capacity of 42 billion cubic meters of gas per year, becoming the largest such plant in Russia and one of the biggest in the world. The plant will also include the world's largest helium production facility (up to 60 million cubic meters per year).

“In less than two years, we have successfully completed the initial construction of the Amur GPP, the largest and most advanced gas processing plant in the country. Today, we launched the next crucial and essential stage. We laid the first foundation and will soon start installing the facilities that will be vital to the future plant,” said Alexey Miller.

Background

The construction of the Amur GPP started in October 2015.

The investor and customer for the Amur GPP construction project is Gazprom Pererabotka Blagoveshchensk (part of the Gazprom Group). Construction management is carried out by NIPIGAZ (part of the SIBUR Group), Russia's leading center for design, supplies, logistics and construction management.

More than 1,500 design engineers, 1,000 equipment suppliers, and 500 contracting organizations are engaged in the project. With construction at its peak, the effort will involve over 20,000 people. When the plant opens, it will employ around 3,000 persons.

Works are underway to erect the infrastructure to be used during the plant's construction and operation: access roads, a wharf on the Zeya River, railway communications, and temporary buildings and structures, including a camp for construction workers.

As part of the project, a residential district for future employees will be built in Svobodny. It will accommodate 5,000 people and will include apartment houses, an outpatient clinic, a kindergarten, a school, and a sports center.